There is positive
support overall for the construction of a new
arts and athletics facility in the Tracy School
District. Thats the news District 417 board
of education members received this week during a
report on the facilities survey that was recently
conducted in the district.

Don Lifto of Springsted,
the company that organized the survey, presented
a report to the school board Monday. Only a
handful of interested community members attended
to hear the results.

Lifto said 300 telephone
surveys were completed with registered voters in
the Tracy School District. A random sample of
registered voters was used.

Lifto said the
methodology used in the survey was a
three-benchmark test. Early in the survey, people
were asked a very general question about a
potential new facility without much detail.

This first,
uninformed showed that 57 percent of
those surveyed were in favor of a bond for a
proposed performing arts center, athletic
practice facility, and new school administrative
offices. Only 30.3 percent of those surveyed said
they would oppose such a proposal. An additional
12.7 percent were undecided.

This is a good
initial response, Lifto said.

The second benchmark
involved going through a series of more specific
statements concerning what the new facility might
be used for and whether those statements would
make the person more or less likely to vote for
such a proposal.

This section of the
survey showed that 76.3 percent would be more
likely to support a facility designed for both
student and community use. Other responses, which
ranged from statements on school safety to
theater and practice areas, ranged from 57 to
68.7 percent in favor.

Following this series of
questions, those surveyed were again asked to say
whether they would support a bond for such a
facility. The percentage of those in favor went
up to 59.7 percent, the number of those opposed
dropped down to 28 percent, and the number of
those undecided was 12.3 percent.

Lifto said it was
interesting to note that there wasnt much
difference between the uninformed and
informed responses. He said this was
likely because many in the district had already
been informed about the proposed facility and its
potential uses prior to the survey.

The third benchmark
brought the impact of cost into the picture. For
this section, residential and farm property
owners were separated. Farm property owners were
asked how much they would be willing to have
taxes increased per $100,000 of land. Residential
homeowners were asked how much they would be
willing to have taxes increased based on the
average home.

Per $100,000, 60.9
percent of rural property owners said they would
be willing to have taxes increased by $95. The
percentage dropped to 54.6 for $123, 47 percent
for $138, and 37.7 percent for $161. For the
average homeowner, 59.4 percent supported an
increase of $95 per year, 47 percent supported an
increase of $123, 40.9 percent supported an
increase of $138, and 33.6 percent supported an
increase of $161 per year.

Lifto said the
registered voters who are the most active were
also the most likely to support a school
facilities bond. He said this is a somewhat
unusual pattern, and is a positive sign for the
district.

Women were also more
likely to support a new facility. When
uninformed, 50.4 percent of males surveyed
supported the facility. This number increased to
54.2 percent for informed males. The percentage
of females who supported the facility when
uninformed was 62.1 percent. This percentage
jumped to 63.9 for informed females. Lifto said
females are almost always more supportive of such
projects than males.

The pattern of support
split up by age was also typical, Lifto said. The
18-44 age group was most likely to support the
project, with 81.3 percent voicing support while
uninformed, and 79.7 percent after receiving more
information. In the 45-64 age group, 52.5 voiced
support at first, and 55.1 percent said
theyd be in favor after receiving more
information. The 65 and over age bracket was the
least supportive. In this group, 48.3 of
uninformed people were in favor of the project.
This number did increase to 53.4 percent when
more details were provided.

Lifto said parent status
was another interesting aspect of demographics.
He said it is fairly for alumni parents and
non-parents to be at about the same level of
support.

In the Tracy district,
47.9 percent of alumni parents said they
supported the project while uninformed, and 51.5
percent supported the facility once they received
more information. Non-parents were more
supportive than alumni parents, with 57.5 percent
supporting while uninformed and 60.3 approving
after learning more details. Not surprisingly,
parents of current students were the most
supportive. A total of 80.6 percent of parents
voiced their support, both while uninformed and
informed.

Lifto said people who
participate in community education were more
likely to be supportive of the facility. Among
community education participants 66.7 percent of
informed people approved of the project, compared
to 58.3 percent among those who did not
participate in community education.

The pattern of support
among Tracy precincts vs. other precincts was
common, Lifto said. 64.7 percent of informed
Tracy precinct voters approved of the facility,
while 54.2 percent of other area voters were in
favor.

District gets high
marks

In addition to questions
about the support for the proposed arts and
athletics facility, those surveyed were also
asked to grade the district.

Lifto said the comments
received were a positive commentary for the
district.

The board should
feel really good about this section of
questions, he said. Your responses
were really, really excellent.

The majority of those
asked51.7 percentgave the district a
B. Twenty-nine percent said the
district had earned an A. Only 6.3
percent gave the district a C, two
percent gave the district a D, and .3
percent gave the district an F. An
additional 10.7 percent said they were unable to
evaluate.

Lifto said Tracys
numbers were far better than those collected
nationally, where only 36 give school districts a
B and 32 percent give them a
C.

The districts
facilities also received high marks. Of those
surveyed, 19.3 percent gave the facilities an
A. Most gave the districts
facilities a B, at 56.7 percent. An
additional 16.7 percent gave the facilities a
C. Only one percent of those surveyed
gave the districts facilities a
D or an F. Six percent
said they were unable to evaluate.

The board of education
received high marks when it came to financial
management. A B grade was given by
45.3 percent of those asked, while 22 percent
gave an A, 16.3 percent gave a
C, three percent felt the district
deserved a D, and only .7 percent an
F. Those who said they were unable to
evaluate the districts financial management
accounted for 12.7 percent.

The vast majority of
those surveyed said they feel the district does a
good job of informing the public of district
plans for the future. Forty percent gave the
district an A in this area, followed
by 34 percent giving the district a
B. Only 19.3 percent gave the
district a C, 1.3 percent gave the
district a D, and one percent gave
the district an F.

The district is also
widely trusted when it comes to spending tax
dollars wisely. Over 80 percent of those surveyed
answered agree, or strongly
agree, when asked whether Tracy Area Public
Schools can be trusted to spend tax dollars
wisely. Only 12 percent disagreed and 2.3 percent
strongly disagreed.

The final question on
the survey was asked with a negative spin, Lifto
said. People were asked whether they would never
vote for a tax increase no matter what the money
raised would be used for. Of those surveyed, only
13.3 agreed with that statement. Three percent
strongly agreed. Nearly 81 percent disagreed or
strongly disagreed with the statement.

Recommendations

Lifto closed his
presentation with recommendations for the
district. He said the base support for a bond is
good overall, and is strongest among parents,
women, in the Tracy precincts, among younger
voters and in households where someone has
participated in community education.

He said tax tolerance is
in the lower end of the scale. As a result, he
recommended that the cost not exceed $107 per
year for a home with an assessed value of
$100,000. That would amount to about $5.8 million
for a new facility.

If you communicate
your needs well and keep your tax impact within
that ceiling, you should have a reasonable chance
of getting this passed, Lifto said.

The board will continue
discussion on the building issue at their April
board meeting.

Expansion
could link Prairie View & hospital

By Seth Schmidt

Sanford Tracy
Medical Center and Prairie View
Healthcare leaders are discussing the
possibility of linking the two
facilities.

Both Sanford
Tracy and the nursing home are now
studying expansion plans. One concept
thats under consideration would
physically connect the two buildings
across what is now Fifth St. East.

That would
be ideal, if it could be worked
out, said Steve Harl, vice
president of operations for Tealwood Care
Centers, the company that manages and
owns Prairie View. Wed like
to have a single campus setting.

Rick Nordahl,
chief executive officer for Sanford Tracy
, echoes Harls thoughts. Nordahl
called a linked medical center and
nursing home a best case scenario
for the health-care needs of this
community.

Tealwood
officials have previously announced the
possibility of adding onto Prairie View,
and have hired an architect to draft
plans for an addition. Sanford and City
of Tracy leaders have also hired an
architect to look at remodeling and
expansion options for the hospital and
clinic. Hospital and nursing home
officials met several weeks ago to
discuss the linkage possibility.

Harl said that
Prairie Views addition could
involve about 25 additional resident
rooms. The added space, he said, would
make it possible for all Prairie View
residents to have a single, private room.

No timetable has
been set for construction, but Harl said
hed like to see Prairie Views
expansion get started as soon as
possible.

Prairie View is
now at 100% capacity with 58 residents,
according to Tennis Eeg, Prairie View
administrator.

From Prairie
View perspective, Harl said that the next
step in the proposed expansion is to work
with their architect, and see if a
linkage plan can be agreed upon with the
hospital and city. Once a plan is agreed
upon at the local level, then approval
would be needed from state officials.

There are
a lot a steps in the process, but
financially we are prepared to do
this, Harl said.

Construction
that would physically connect the medical
center and the nursing home would require
the city to vacate East Fifth St. Nordahl
has written a letter to City
Administrator Audrey Koopman requesting
that the city begin the process to vacate
the street. The Tracy Planning Commission
could consider the street vacation issue
as early as April 2.

Principal gets
crown, kudos from students

Students
honor Scott Loeslie

By Valerie
Scherbart Quist

When it comes to
character, theres no question
whos king at Tracy Elementary
School.

Principal Scott
Loeslie was dubbed King of
Character by his students and staff
last week in a surprise ceremony during a
school assembly for the finale of I
Love to Read month. The
schools media center was
transformed into a royal court complete
with jester, crown and robe bearers, a
throne, and loyal subjects who bowed to
their role model in character education.

Student Kelli
Soupir began by reading a fairy tale
created especially for Loeslie.

Once upon
a time, in a small kingdom lived a group
of people lacking some direction with
character goals. Then the day came when a
prince came riding in on a white horse
(some of you might think it looked like a
white pick-up!), she read.

After many
years of building together we feel it is
time to acknowledge and give credit to
this great Emperor.

Students and
staff members decorated a crown for
Loeslie with jewels representing nine
character words: Caring, fairness,
responsibility, respect for others,
trustworthiness, citizenship, respect for
self, ambition, and determination.
Students read the following anecdotes for
each word.

Caring:

C is for cool

A is for awesome

R is for
respectable

I is for
intelligent

N is for nice

G is for great

Fairness:
Thank you for showing us how to be fair
by working hard every day, treating
everyone with kindness and respect.

Respect for
others: You have shown us how to
respect others by listening carefully to
us and thinking about our feelings. Even
though we are smaller than you, you
always look up to us because we show good
character.

Responsibility:
Responsibility is coming to work on cold
winter days. Responsibility is
remembering to do your job every day. You
have taught us about responsibility
through your actions.

Trustworthiness:
We are proud to say we trust you! We
trust that you will be honest. We trust
that you will keep your promises. We
trust you will make good choices for our
school and community. And you can trust
that we will work to do our best.

Citizenship:
You have shown us citizenship by taking
pride in our school and also in us. You
believe in us, and let us know that
everyone here is important. You make our
school a great atmosphere to work and
play in.

Respect for
self: We all know that you have
respect for yourself! You dress with
really cool, colorful ties. You have
surrounded yourself with many wonderful
people. You care about what the school
looks like, and we know that every day
you wake up smiling in the mirror saying,
I know I can, I know I can, I know
I can!

Ambition:
Did you know that Mr. Loeslie has a
secret? His real middle name is
ambitious. We know this because he sets
goals and believes he can do difficult
things. He tries things that will make
our school a better place. He
doesnt compare himself to
othersthough he secretly wants to
be our one and only super hero. Last but
not least, he always does his very best
and never gives up!

Determination:
Mr. Loeslie, you are determined! You are
determined to make us the best we can be
every day. You are determined to make
this the best school in the whole world.
You are determined to do what is right
and not just what is easy. You are
determined to help us reach our goals,
and we are determined to help you reach
yours!

Emperor
Loeslie, we dub you King of
Character, Soupir said in closing.
We pledge our allegiance to follow your
example as a leader of good
character.

The students
then sang the song Thank You Very
Much.

Thats
our way of saying thank you to a great
person we know, said music teacher
Ade Miller.

Loeslie, clearly
surprised, thanked the students for the
honor they had bestowed upon him.

In order
to be the emperor or the king you have to
have a great court, he said.

Loeslie thanked
the people who are important to him who
have helped to guide him; particularly
his wife, Becky and daughter, Kasey, who
were in attendance.

I really
do appreciate this, Loeslie said.
He remarked at the great improvements
that have been made at Tracy Elementary
through the character education program.

I think we
have really improved who we are, he
said. Its truly my pleasure
to be here every day and work with all of
you.

Pie-in-face
contest to raise money for playground

Pie: Coming soon
to a face near you.

Ten Tracy
Elementary School staff members are
putting their mugs on the line for a good
causea new school playground. Money
will be collected in jars between now and
Monday, March 26, when the
winner will be announced
following the performance of a school
musical.

The program,
Mighty Minds: A Musical that Makes
Learning Fun, will begin at 7 p.m.
at the Tracy Area High School auditorium.
Free-will donations will be accepted with
all money raised going toward the
playground fund.

Mighty
Minds will feature singing by the
whole student body as well as acting by
sixth grade students and eight teachers.
The program centers around test anxiety
and other issues students face.

Director Ade
Miller said audience members will also be
asked to participate. Those who are
interested are encouraged to arrive at
6:50 on the evening of the program to
learn the song Well Be
There.

Following the
musical will be the culmination of the
pie-in-the-face contest. Donations can
still be brought in the night of the
program, or sent to the school ahead of
time. Those who send in donations are
reminded to indicate which bucket
theyd like their donation to go
into. Candidates are Ade Miler, Kristin
Haugo-Jones, Scott Loeslie, Jen Kainz,
Nat Boyer, Nikki Paulzine, Lisa Schaar,
Lisa Dieter, Deb Maki, and Kelly
McConnell.

City lighting
study continues

Should the City
of Tracy proceed with a plan for
replacing aging downtown light fixtures?

Should Hwy. 14
lighting improvements be incorporated
with the downtown plan?

If Hwy. 14
lighting upgrades are pursued, should
fixtures be on one or both sides of the
street?

Would Xcel
Energy help pay for new lights? How would
assessments be handled?

Those were among
the unanswered questions city leaders
confronted at a Monday night public
hearing to consider downtown lighting
improvements. The hearing had been
continued from Feb. 12. Council members
decided to postpone decisions about
proposed lighting improvements until at
least April 9, when the public hearing
will be reconvened again.

Obviously,
we need a lot more research, said
council member Sandi Rettmer, who offered
to help gather information.

City
Administrator Audrey Koopman said an
estimated $151,000 would be needed to put
decorative, breakaway lighting fixtures
along Hwy. 14. An alternative would be to
put new lights only along the north side
of Hwy. 14, where most of the highway
businesses are located. She said some
communities have also mixed new
decorative fixtures with existing,
traditional lights.

Councilman Russ
Stobb said that the planning
commissions recommended that the
downtown lights be replaced first.

Chamber
President Carol Cooreman said that the
Chamber remains supportive of downtown
lighting improvements.. Perhaps, if the
goal is to al improve appearances along
the Hwy. 14 corridor, less costly
improvements could be implemented before
the lhighway ights are upgraded, she
said.

Koopman said
that the need for improved lighting along
Hwy. 14 is not as great as the downtown
area, since most of the highway lights
are functional.

The proposed
downtown lighting project calls for 40 to
43 new decorative light poles in a
six-block area. The 14 to 18 foot poles
would be similar to those in Central
Park. Estimated cost is $159,000. An
estimated $70,000 worth of sidewalk and
curb repairs would be done at the same
time.

City leaders
have discussed financing the lighting
improvements by including the cost in a
large city-bond issue later this year.
City policy calls for 25% of costs to be
assessed to benefitting property owners.

Students
coming for 'International Weekend'

The Tracy AFS
Chapter is sponsoring an
International Weekend for
area foreign exchange students.

Eleven students
from neighboring communities will be in
Tracy for the March 15-18 activities.
Tracy Area High Schools three
exchange studentsTinke Albach and
Lisa Schreier from Germany and Davide
Ottogalli from Italy will help host
the students.

Activities
include a Thursday night potluck supper
at St. Marys Church basement, an
International Fair in the
TAHS cafeteria Friday from 10 a.m. to
2:45 p.m., a Friday night dance sponsored
by the Amiriet Busy Bees, Saturday
afternoon bowling, and a Saturday night
supper and party for exchange students
and host siblings.

The
International Weekend concludes with an
11 a.m. to noon farewell at the Tracy
Multi-Purpose Center Sunday.